BITS wins nail-biter

BITS Pilani scored a nerve-wracking 44-43 win against AV College at the BFI-IMG Reliance inter-college basketball league, organised by the Hyderabad District Basketball Association under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India, in the twin cities.

In the only other men’s match held on the day, Loyola Academy breezed past the Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology 58-31.

In the women’s category, Government College of Phyical Education defeated St Francis Degree College 35-23 and G. Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science scored a 29-18 victory over BITS?Pilani.

In the first quarter, Bits outsmarted their rivals consistently to build a healthy nine-point lead at 19-10 by the end. In the second, they let AV College catch up a little. AV, switching to a full-court, man-to-man defensive strategy, halted BITS’s offensive manoeuvres and restricted them to only six points while scoring 11, but BITS still led 25-21 going into the third passage of play.

AV weren’t quite done with fighting back, yet. Three minutes into the third quarter, thanks to two quick three-pointers, AV pulled level at 27-27.

Despite their best efforts, BITS were unable to pull ahead as both teams ended the third quarter on equal terms at 37-37.

In a low-scoring fourth quarter both the teams stepped up their defences as a result of which, neither side was able to score freely. The neck-and-neck race to the finish line continued, with both sides locked on 42-42 with only three minutes left on the clock. Around minute of fruitless scrambling later, Ishan of BITS broke free to score a crucial basket and take his side 44-42 ahead.

With just 17 seconds left, AV College’s Pavan was fouled, which resulted in two free throws of which, he converted only one to make the scorecard read 44-43 in BITS’s favour. BITS fiercely held on to the lead for the few remaining second to win.

Ishan top-scored for BITS with 17 points. Swarnim wasn’t too far behind, with 16 to his credit. For AV College, Sai led the scoring with 16 points while Samson scored nine.

Loyola and MJCET were locked in a keen contest for the first two quarters of their match. Loyola led 29-21 after the second quarter and then, consolidated their lead over the next two quarters to win 58-31 in comfortable fashion. Ganesh top-scored for Loyola with 23 points.